Super Falcons defender Osinachi Ohale says the entire team is prepared for a physical Cameroon side ahead of today’s Women Africa Cup of Nations semi-final at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Nigeria and Cameroon have built up a rivalry over the years and both teams have contested the past two finals of the tournament with the Falcons winning on each occasion. The Cameroonians have gained a reputation for physicality in this year’s tournament and with thoughts of revenge fuelling the Indomitable Lionesses, today’s semi-final could be much feistier than usual but Ohale says the Falcons know what to expect.
“We are prepared as always,” she told busybuddiesng.com, “not just me, the [entire] defence line including the ones on the bench.
“We are all prepared, we know the kind of players they have, they are physical and all [but] we are still going to do our own best. We have physical players as well, so it is not going to be a do or die but we are going to play our game and remain calm.”
The 27-year old Vittsjo of Sweden defender has experience playing against Cameroon at the AWCON having been part of the team that defeated the Indomitable Lionesses in the final of the last edition in 2016. Ohale who said the Falcons have shown they can be calm under pressure after the way the team responded to defeat against South Africa, believes that with both sides not much changed from 2016, today’s encounter could be similar to the final of 2016.
“I think the Cameroon team I played in 2016 are still the same Cameroon I’m seeing in this year’s competition,” she said.
“We also have the same players except for few players that joined. Two years ago was a tough one it wasn’t an easy finals against the Cameroonians but we came out with a good result and the result we wanted.
“Today’s game is not going to be an easy one although we are going to respect them because they are people that we have been playing often so I think we still going to put in our best, work hard and then make sure that we get the ticket to the World Cup next year.”
